How To Install VMware Tools on Linux (RHEL 7/CentOS)

As discussed in the previous post, VMware Tools adds some additional functionalities to the virtual machine. Some of the features (such as copy paste, drag-and-drop files) for a virtual machine are only available when you install the VMware Tools. In the previous post, we have discussed how to install VMware Tools on Windows virtual machine. In this post, we will explain how to install VMware Tools on Linux virtual machine (RHEL 7/CentOS).

Steps to Install VMware Tools on Linux Virtual Machine

To install VMware Tools on Linux virtual machine, you need to perform the following steps:

Power on the Linux virtual machine for which you install VMware Tools.

In the VMware Workstation/Player, click VM and then select Install VMware Tools.

Log in to the Linux virtual machine and open the Terminal window.

If you are logged in as a local user, switch to as root user using the su root command.

Next, execute the mount command and notice your CD/DVD mount point.

#su root
#mount

For example, in the following figure, you can see that the VMware Tools CD-ROM is mounted under the /run/media/kool/VMware Tools directory. Note the mount point of your system. (Where kool is the username)

If you want to mount the VMware Tools CD-ROM on your desired directory, execute the following command.

#mount /dev/sr0 /<mount-point-directory>

Note: Some Linux distributions automatically mount CD-ROMs. If your distribution uses automounting, do not use the mount and umount commands.

Now, move on to a directory where you want to extract the VMware Tools files. For example, /tmp.

#cd /tmp

Next, uncompress the VMware Tools files. To do so, execute the following commands.